Ten iPhones were reported stolen Friday after a Fedex driver misdelivered them, according to a Richmond County Sheriff’s Office incident report.

The driver said a Panera Bread employee signed for eight packages containing iPhones intended for Verizon Wireless, located in the same 254 Robert C. Daniel Parkway suite, but Panera delivered only seven of the packages to Verizon after the mistake was discovered.

Four of the 10 missing black phones, valued at $550 each, have since been activated in the Augusta area, the report said.

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My company is constantly fighting with both FedEx and UPS delivery personnel over packages delivered to the wrong place even with labels showing the proper address. Their attitude is that, if they get the stuff "close enough" to where it SHOULD go, someone will get it to the right place. They routinely put thousands of dollars in goods and documentation in danger every single time they screw up a delivery, so where is their accountability in this?

But, having said that, I do agree that someone (allegedly a Panera employee as suggested by the story) should held accountable. But who? Don't assume the person who signed for the packages is the one who stole the phones--there are a lot of employees there and any one of them could be the culprit. And, if the boxes were left where anyone could see them, then customers/delivery people/passers-by could have taken one of the boxes, especially with a Verizon logo to tip them off as to contents.

If Verizon already knows the phones have been activated, then I presume Verizon already cut them off via tracking the activated EINs. Then they can trace them using the activity logs. But, I guess it makes the story less "sexy" when you point out there are such obvious methods for locating the culprits.

I've not experienced bad service from UPS. But I certainly have from FedEx. After the last incident, I will NEVER use FedEx again. They did absolutely nothing...nothing...to resolve what they screwed up. I had a $27,000 check which was at one time in their care "lost" for well over a month. Eventually it showed up at my door...with tire tracks on the envelope and having been exposed to the elements. FedEx would not even reimburse the $30 delivery fee.

and make sure that that employee is not related to a girl and a boy at Grovetown High School! They like to steal there too!! Maybe this is the new thing where its better to steal it than to pay for it!! Sorry sorry people in this world!!

10 Iphones Mis-Delivered by FEDX
8 packages signed for by Panera Bread employee.
7 Packages later walked next door to Verizon by Panera.
4 of 10 missing black phones activated.
============================
How long will it take a train leaving Augusta to arrive in Boston using 6 missing Iphones at 4g Speeds?

The program is called Lifeline, established in 1984, by the administration of Ronald Reagan. It was later expanded during the Bill Clinton Administration, In 2008 Safe link became the first cellular provider service and was launched by TracFone during the Administration of George W. Bush. The object of this program was to subsidize landline phone service for low income Americans, funded by government-collected telecommunication fees, paid by consumers.

These phones are not just given out to "Welfare recipients" it also include our population of elderly and disabled Americans. These phones are called "Obama Phones" due to ignorance and hatred that still exist today. Our country only has the strength to fight on war and it going on in Afghanistan.

In your haste to cover Obama's butt, don't offer false information. There are other programs, but as usual, the Dems have their own rip-off going. So, Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus and his name is Obama.

Last year, a federal program paid out $1.6 billion to cover free cell phones and the monthly bills of 12.5 million wireless accounts. The program, overseen by the FCC and intended to help low-income Americans, is popular for obvious reasons, with participation rising steeply since 2008, when the government paid $772 million for phones and monthly bills. But observers complain that the program suffers from poor oversight, in which phones go to people who don’t qualify, and hundreds of thousands of those who do qualify have more than one phone.

"The program came to be after the Telecommunications Act of 1996 was passed, and the FCC created the Universal Service Fund to help “to promote the availability of quality services at just, reasonable, and affordable rates,” among other things. All telecommunications carriers must pay into the fund, and many do so by tacking on a fee to each of their customers’ bills. It’s probably added into your monthly wireless bill and your landline bill, if you still have one."

By
Steve Adcock
– Posted on February 12, 2013Posted in: News and Current Events

Just months after the federal government spent $2.2 billion in 2012 to fund a cellular phone subsidy program aimed at giving low-income Americans taxpayer-funded telephone services, tightened FCC rules have revealed that a whopping 41% of those who received “free” phone service could not substantiate eligibility for the program.

The “Lifeline Program” began in 1984 as a way to keep low-income people connected to family and emergency services. The program was intended for those who meet federal poverty standards or currently receive food stamps, Medicaid or other taxpayer-funded handouts.

Until last year, telephone carriers were not required to verify the eligibility of those who applied for the phone subsidy. It is only now, after the FCC tightened their rules and require eligibility verification, that the massive fraud – accounting for nearly half of those subscribed to the handout program – has been revealed to tax paying Americans.

The FCC now requires telephone carriers to verify eligibility and may impose fines of $150,000 per customer, per day for fraudulent use of the Lifeline program. The FCC claims the new safeguards will save taxpayers $2 billion over the course of three years.

The “Lifeline Program” began in 1984 as a way to keep low-income people connected to family and emergency services.
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Again, from your own source. It's like "low-information voting" has given way to "negative-information voting" -- where even when the information is right there in one's face, it sucks the ability to process information right out of the brain.

I really hope I don't need to explain how calling a program begun in 1984 an Obama program demonstrates a profound refusal to acknowledge reality. Behaviors such as these really do not reassure voters that one's party can even process reality, much less lead and administer in the world that is real.

I was eating at Wendy's on Washington Road in Martinez recently. A group of people parked, jumped out and set up a tent in front of the building. A female from the bunch came inside an loudly announced that they were giving away FREE cell phones.

A girl from behind the counter said, "I already have a phone." To which the Obama girl said, "Don't matter. I can give you another one free and you get free calls, free texting, free email and everything!"

Long story short, the traffic to that tent never slowed down while we were there. At least three Wendy's employees got them. (I got to watch them transfer their contacts to their NEW phones.) At least two dozen others took advantage of the rip-off in the short time we were there.

One guy in a late mode Caddy drove into the parking lot, gave the girl his info and in ten minutes walked back to his car with a taxpayer furnished phone. The entire time he waited, he was on HIS OWN CELL. (He obviously wasn't poor and he quite obviously wasn't black either. In case you thought I was implying that.)

Like I said, you can cherry pick among the facts all day long, but the bottom line is there are hundred of thousands of phones going to people, who because of poor or no oversight are ripping off the taxpayers.

You may think the taxpayer well is bottomless, but you are in for a surprise. It's running dry and faster than you think.

So, delude yourself if you want. I know you will. Take comfort in knowing that those phone translate to Democrat votes in the next election.

BTW, I saw what appeared to be that same FREE CELL PHONE sign and tent about a week later in front of Popeye's on Deans Bridge Road. Seems they just can't give them away fast enough.

a program begun in 1984 an Obama program demonstrates a profound refusal to acknowledge reality."

No, let me explain, since you seem to have trouble understanding. Just as Obama took "George Bush's" war in Afghanistan and made it his own, so it is with the phone project. It began as a way to make sure poor folks would have access to emergency services. (Like 911, maybe you've heard of it?) Now it's a handout in exchange for political loyalty.

Sometimes, government programs, like cancer grow rapidly out of control.

NOW DO YOU UNDERSTAND??????????????????????????

You know, sometimes, when you patronize or condescend to people, it comes back to bite you in the butt.

Good example of where they can have help.
Picture a guy with an Oxygen bottle on wheels, sitting in the dirt next Lake Omstead. He had ran out of gas, and started walking looking for a payphone to call for help. He had walked over a 3/4 mile before his poor health caught up with him and still no pay phones.